Vista Land plans foray into healthcare business

MANILA, Philippines - Mass housing giant Vista Land and Lifescapes Inc. will enter into partnerships for its foray into healthcare.

On the sidelines of the 2015 Forbes Global CEO Conference, Vista Land founder and chairman Manuel B. Villar said the company is pursuing plans to go into the healthcare business via joint ventures.

“Our share will be the land so there wouldn’t be much cash out. We’re continuously open (to expand in other businesses). The group has been quite active for the last five years. We’re going into healthcare and hotel and we have been expanding our mall business,” Villar said.

Villar said the company would continue to beef up its land bank to ensure its steady growth.

“We have to keep on buying. There are places where we have a lot of land. There are areas we have just enough and when we’ve utilized (the land), we will expand some more and buy the adjacent properties,” Villar said.

To date, Vista Land has a land bank of at least 2,500 hectares nationwide.

Villar said the firm remains unfazed by the uncertainties in the global economy.

 “We’re not affected by any significant changes. Our market is the end-user market and they don’t depend on economic indicators for their decisions,” he said.

The former senator said Vista Land would continue to embark on its share buy-back program to take advantage of the stock’s low price.

 “The price is low and we do not want to miss out on this opportunity,” he said.

“You will not have this opportunity again and people who do not buy at these prices will regret not having done so,” he added.

In a recent research report, Regina Capital Development Corp. said the 19.17 percent drop in Vista Land’s share price this year has placed it well below its net book value of P6.61 per share and fair value of P8.55 a share.

Vista Land has allotted P1.5 billion for the share buyback program.

“We have a lot of options. We can use it as part of a follow on offering or sell these to investors,” he said.